Governor Splits Hairs; To Vote Against Anti-Gay Act

As I read my morning paper, I suddenly realized the Family Council of Arkansas' effort to ban gay & lesbian couples from serving as foster or adoptive parents is being politically reframed.

The Family Council's approved petition specifically disqualifies the unmarried. The Family Council's successful effort to constitutionally prevent gay & lesbian marriages plus this iniated act equals banning gay & lesbian couples from serving. It seemed the Family Council shifted tactics to not so openly attack gays & lesbians as unqualified unfit parents like they did pushing a similar bill in the state legislature (see YouTube).

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe (D-AR) Friday announced that he "was not going to vote for" the Family Council's iniated act because foster care is different than adoption. Foster kids, Bebee argues, are best placed with a married couple.

"Adoptions by their very nature take a lengthy period of time before they can be finalized," Beebe says.

Beebe's stance opens the door for even good church folk to oppose this initiated act without supporting the unmarried or queers. In Arkansas, that's leadership.

Also in opposition to the iniated act: Lt. Gov. Bill Halter & Attorney Genreal Dustin McDaniel.

Arkansas' Queer Frontier Revisited

Greetings. Life is good. Long time no see J

In the 1990s, I was involved with some volunteer community radio shows. Before widespread internet access, I had great compassion for young gay men and lesbians in Arkansas’ rural conservative environment. Jay Darnel, Shana Saunders, Craig Wendzl and others created a weekly gay & lesbian radio program called “The Queer Frontier.”

I did the news, and the others brought in their gay & lesbian music collections. 100,000 watts of Little Rock FM every week

I recorded the shows with a cassette recorder/radio player on cassette, and years later digitized this show. While listening a few days back, I thought of making this video (roughly an hour in 6 parts) to preserve the efforts at outreach, support, and community building in 1993, when I was 29.

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